Heco lift system on Hallmark Tips?

[surfdude2133]

I bought a new to me Hallmark UTE 8.5' and its great other than all of its problems! One of those problems is that one side of the HECO lift system does not catch on the track (long thin notched thing) and needs to be pulled or pushed manually. This is not a huge deal but if anyone has any ideas of a quick/affordable fix for this problem I would be very appreciative.

 

[Vic]

I had a HECO lift in my 2000 Sunlite - a lower end camper - and had 15 years of trouble free use and the new owners are enjoying the same. So that said, I'd guess maybe the roof bars are out of sync or alignment and you might check there. Are all of the pivot points free? Also see if the previous owner over/under tightened the allen heads along the track and there may be too much gap on one side. If the teeth on the gear and the track look intact I'd guess its just an alignment problem.

 

[enelson]

Contact Hallmark. They've made their own version they call the super manual. Hopefully they will just sell the parts and you can swap them yourself.

 

[DoGMAtix]

We have an early 2008-vintage Guanella, the last gasp for the non-electric Heco lift. I had to get a new crank since the teeth cracked off the old one when I failed to triple check that everything was done just right (roof clasps undone, crank inserted completely into socket, back door closed with fantastic fan blowing air into the camper...). The track ended up full of tiny chunks of metal from the wrecked crank teeth, so I had to go through and blow as much of that out as possible, then file down the shark-finned track teeth. I called Hallmark about replacement parts and they told me where to buy them. Unfortunately I didn't keep a record of the name of the company, but I think it may have been this:
http://www.popupparts.com/?main_page=index&cPath=4_6
If you call Hallmark, either Bill or Matt can help you. As per other posts about Hallmark, you may need to be persistent when contacting them. They don't tend to respond to email, and you'll probably have to leave a couple of messages and call a few times to get through. Once you do, though, they're very helpful.
You might want to start by ensuring both tracks (upper and lower) are well fastened in, parallel, and in the right position in relation to each other. Inspect the tracks to make sure the teeth look good - symmetric without sharp edges or stuff obstructing the notches. If your problem persists you probably need new parts. I'd replace the crank as well if you replace the tracks. The metal is soft and easily cracked/deformed, so one bad part will destroy the whole system.